Runners converge on Southern Hills Friday for annual TTU Invitational

Oct 03, 2012

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. -- A field of six men's teams and five women's
teams will converge on Cookeville's Southern Hills Golf Course
Friday to compete in the annual TTU Invitational Cross Country
Invitational.

The women will run a 5K race beginning at 3 p.m., while the men
will battle through an 8K event starting at 3:45 p.m. Joining Tech
in the women's race will be Carson Newman, Evansville, North
Alabama and Tennessee State. Those same schools will be joined by
Lipscomb in the men's race.

With between 60 and 70 runners in each race, the TTU Invitational
will be one of the largest Tech has hosted.

"Being our home meet, we consider this to be one of our most
important meets of the year," said Tech coach Tony Cox. "This is
where we start making decisions on who is going to run in the
conference meet. I think the weather is going to be great on
Friday, and we're excited about hosting."

Tech's runners have become familiar with the layout at Southern
Hills, which includes a couple of challenging hills and some
breathtaking scenery throughout the course.

"It's a hilly course. It's probably one of the hardest courses we
race on during the year, but it's a good course," Cox said. "There
is a lot of variety and it is a good spectator course."